


Nighttime Ritual

by Milieva



Category: Magic Knight Rayearth
Genre: F/M, It all ends in smut, now with 5 times more sex than the original, slight rewrite for 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-03-03
Packaged: 2017-12-04 05:55:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/707295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milieva/pseuds/Milieva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since Umi isn't sleeping well alone in her new room, Clef offers to keep her company.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nighttime Ritual

**Author's Note:**

> This is a silly bit of a thing I wrote based off a little fan comic I found a while ago, where Fuu and Hikaru come in to wish Umi a happy birthday only to find her with company in her bed. 
> 
> Thought it would be fun to explore some backstory there.

Umi didn't sleep well, and it wasn't just because of the nightmares.

 

The truth was, she never slept well alone. Something about the dark disturbed her. Not the unknown or the possibility of something being in the dark, but the feeling of loneliness at the end of the day in an empty room.

 

That was why she has so often looked forward to the visits to Cephiro after the dissolution of the pillar system. During the reformation, she, Hikaru, and Fuu still shared their room, and for at least one night a week, Umi wasn't alone in the silence at the close of the day. Two other warm bodies breathed beside her and she could actually sleep comfortably, with her mind quiet. 

 

Once they moved to their new rooms, however, things changed. The nightmares returned with the silence. The screams of broken hearts haunted her dreams. Rather than wait for them to overtake her, Umi hid from them in the only place she could think of, curled in a chair in Clef's study while he worked until the wee hours of the night. More often than not, she would fall asleep there, only to wake in the morning on the settee with a pillow under her head and a blanket tucked over her. (Well, except that one time when she'd found herself not on the settee, but on a bed down the corridor. Thankfully that hadn't happened again, after she freaked out over it.)

 

That was how it had begun.

 

Some months after Clef had taken an adult form—claimed it suited him better in his new role within the evolving government—but still before her eighteenth birthday (there would be no forgetting that birthday), Umi slumped into her usual chair opposite Clef at his desk. With a heavy sigh, he set his pen down and looked across at her sternly.

 

"This has got to stop."

 

Umi's head snapped up. Was he really going to send her away? There must have been fear in her eyes because his expression softened immediately.

 

"You should be asleep. It's late," his voice was gentle, calming really. "If you can't sleep—"

 

"No." She shook her head. "I don't want a potion."

 

"You can't keep sleeping in here." His hands folded themselves together over the papers on his desk. His eyes searched her face and he sighed again. "Is there something the matter with your room?"

 

"No," Umi whispered. She didn't want to have to explain it to him. Not now. Not tonight.

 

"I see."

 

Her eyes met his. She was surprised by the understanding she found there, when she'd told him nothing.

 

"You've been coming in here for the past three months." His voice was gentle, layered with concern

 

Of course. She was aware of that. She had been perfectly conscious each time she stepped through that set of doors.

 

"Three months ago, you stopped sharing a room with your friends."

 

Damn. He did know. Umi pulled her feet up into the chair and rested her chin on her knees. Only then did she dare herself to speak again. "I don't like to be alone," she admitted.

 

Clef's mouth opened once and shut quickly as he struggled with something to say to that. Even a stubborn, grumpy, know-it-all like him didn't have all the right answers all the time, it seemed. His hands rubbed together nervously as he glanced down at them. Closing his eyes he took in a long pained breath before he finally did speak. "I could stay with you, if you like."

 

"Sorry, what?" Umi blinked at him in surprised. His voice was so quiet, she almost thought she hadn't heard him properly, but there was a slight flush to his cheeks and she still questioned what her ears had heard.

 

Another swallow and deep breath before he spoke again, words only slightly louder and better enunciated. "I can sit with you, until you fall asleep. If you want me to."

 

Company. That was what she craved, wasn't it? He just wanted to fill that hole, so she'd sleep in her own bed for once. What was wrong with that? Little did she know, while she was debating on her own answer to his offer, Clef was sitting across from her pondering the wisdom of it.

 

Her voice was small, and possibly contained a bit of a squeak when she finally answered.

 

"Okay."

 

°♡°

 

The walk back to her room was more than a little awkward. Umi kept constantly glancing over at Clef, wondering what people would think if they saw them out in the corridors this late at night. It wasn't as if they looked like they were up to any sort of mischief. He was more than arms-length away from her, walking just a little behind, as she led the way through the tangle of corridors up and around to where her room lay.

 

The door opened without a sound. She glanced from him to the dark room and then back again, suddenly more nervous than she should be. "Just until I fall asleep, right?"

 

He nodded. "Until you fall asleep."

 

"I'll just—" Perhaps she should send him away? She could sleep alone. She'd done it for years at home. Not always very well, especially after everything that had happened, but she had survived the past four years with no lasting harm from the sleepless nights.

 

"I'll wait here while you change," Clef said, his voice barely a whisper.

 

Slipping into the room, she turned the light on only enough to see her nightgown by. Umi changed quickly and threw herself into the bed, pulling the covers up to her neck before she called quietly to Clef that she was ready.

 

Silent as a shadow, he stepped into the room; the door clicking softly behind him.

 

"Now go to sleep." His words sounding more like a tired parent than a friend.

 

Umi settled into her pillow, tucking the blankets up and about her neck and she shut her eyes and tried to listen for his breathing in the dark, but she could only feel him looming in the shadows by the doorway, watching her. It wasn't exactly comfortable. Still, he'd offered to stay with her, as her problem was sleeping alone, so she should just be grateful and try to get some sleep, yeah? Only she couldn't shake the way his eyes seemed to watch her. It was almost creepier than being alone in the dark.

 

After a few terrible minutes, she sat up, still clutching the covers to her. "You wanna come sit down."

 

"Umi, I don't think—"

 

"Hey!" She waved him off. "I just— With you—It's just unnerving. You over there like that."

 

Only the silence answered her.

 

"Either go away or sit down. I can't sleep with you looking like that."

 

There was a huff somewhere between a loud sigh and laugh before the Clef shaped shadow crossed the floor. Looming was a bit of an extreme description. Even in his adult form, he couldn't be more than an inch or two taller than Umi was. But something about the darkness made him appear bigger than he really was, and the fullness of his robes didn't help when he stopped at the end of her bed.

 

Something clicked, and in the dim glow of the starlight through the curtains, Umi saw his mantle slip off his shoulders.

 

"C—Clef?" she stammered, wide-eyed. Why was he undressing? She'd asked him to sit with her, not _sleep_ with her!

 

He stopped, head cocked to the side.

 

"We would both be more comfortable if I weren't wearing it," he answered matter-of-factly. "I'm still keeping the rest on. Don't get so excited."

 

It was Umi's turn not to answer. She bit down on her lip as he rounded the bed and the mattress shifted under his weight.

 

"Budge up a bit, would you?" he asked, sliding under the blankets with her.

 

She scooted over to give him room to sit against the headboard beside her. That was more disconcerting than him standing in the doorway had been. A shiver ran through her as the fabric of his clothing brushed the bare skin of her arm. Yep, this had been a terrible idea.

 

"Clef, I—"

 

"Just hush now and sleep," he pleaded, sounding tired, stressed, and so much like her mother in that instant, that Umi couldn't help but laugh.

 

The tension broke instantly. Having him there wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as it had been mere seconds ago. She didn't even flinch when his fingers absently stroked her hair as she snuggled into her pillow and finally gave into the blissful embrace of sleep.

 

°♡°

 

As promised, Umi woke alone, but the rumpled bedclothes on the other side of the bed told her he hadn't been a dream.

 

Rather than fall let her fall asleep in his study, every overnight visit, Clef would accompany Umi back to her room and stay with her until she fell asleep. And every morning after, she would wake alone, but refreshed and ready for the day.

 

At least, that was how it was going, for a few weeks, until the first weekend in March that year.

 

°♡°

 

There was a shuffle outside her door that made Umi stir in the early hours of the morning. She blinked angrily as the sun sifting through the half opened curtains and buried her head further into her pillow. At least until the door of her room burst open.

 

Her first thought was summoning her sword, but she wasn't wearing her gauntlet.

 

So, she went with option two: sitting up in alarm while clutching the covers to her chest as she stared in surprise the faces of her friends, who were too damn bright and perky for that early in the morning. Did they think being a morning person was infectious? Because after four years she still hadn't become one.

 

"Happy Birth—da—" The two declared in unison, only to stop halfway through the second word, eyes going wide.

 

"Oh! We're so sorry," Fuu declared, practically dragging Hikaru from the room in her rush to leave.

 

The door slammed shut with another apology from Fuu, and out in the corridor Hikaru exclaimed, "Clef was there!"

 

Clef?

 

Umi stared beside her in shock. Clef was indeed there, slowly waking up on the pillow beside her like he just belonged there. She glanced between him and the door. What they must have thought. Palm clapping over her face, Umi fell back into her own pillow.

 

"Morning," Clef drowsed beside her.

 

Rolling away from him, Umi buried her burning face in her pillow. Oh, god. Why on Earth hadn't he left last night like he always did? Now they thought… Oh god… what they thought.

 

"Why are you still here?" Umi wailed, flailing back toward him. "Hikaru and Fuu just burst in here to wish me a happy birthday, only to see you sleeping beside me." Perhaps if she were angry with him over breaking their unspoken agreement, she wouldn't be so embarrassed at what her friends much have thought about the arrangement. "Do you have any idea what that looked like? You in my bed at this hour—I mean—We might as well have—" She waved a hand between them, failing to get the words to describe what she meant.

 

Clef propped himself up on one elbow, looking at her. The slightest hint of a smirk curled up and sat at the corner of his mouth. "We might as well have what?"

 

She flushed bright red and glared at him. "What are you doing in my bed, Clef?" 

 

He sat up languidly and stretched. The sheets fell back to show he was still dressed in the same clothes as the night before, not that she was expecting pyjamas or anything. He wouldn't be that presumptuous.

 

A slight grimace ghosting across his face as his back clicked. "Must have fallen asleep."

 

"You don't say," she snapped, pulling her knees up to her chest as she watched him. 

 

Clef ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back, but his fringe came tumbling back down over his eyes moments later. Her hand twitched with the desire to tuck the curling strands behind his ear, but she bit down the impulse. She had never seen him quite so unguarded as he was in that moment, sitting in her bed, drowsy and ruffled. It was a little distracting.

 

"Is it what they think happend really what's bothering you?" he asked, sliding out of the bed. 

 

"Well, they probably think we've been sleeping together," Umi said, her voice wavering slightly. "I'm not sure I want that sort of gossip going around, especially if it isn't true."

 

He paused halfway to the door and turned around slowly. "Do you want it to be true?"

 

Blinking at him and his loaded question, she found herself squeaking out, "You offering, or something?"

 

"Depends," he said, his lips turning up slightly into a devious smirk. "Are you accepting?"

 

Umi wet her lips and brushed the hair out of her face as she gaped at him. Was he really asking what she thought he was? He wasn't moving toward the door anymore, just standing, still as a statue in the middle of the floor. It was difficult to process. She stared. This had to be some kind of crazy dream, right? He couldn't. He wouldn't. Would he?

 

She rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times, but he still hadn't vanished and neither had that expression from his face, and something about that look was doing things to her insides that she really wasn't minding in the least.

 

"Why don't you come over here and find out," she heard herself saying, every nerve trembling with anticipation. 

 

Clef crossed back to the bed in half the number of steps it had taken him to leave. She knelt up to meet him, catching his mouth with hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands were on her the very next moment, tugging her closer to him, as he climbed back onto the bed.

 

She grabbed the back of his tunic and dragged it over the top of his head, only breaking the kiss to pull it free and throw it to the floor. 

 

His fingers brushed over her thighs as he slid up the hem of her nightgown, startling a gasp out of her at the not quite ticklish sensation of his touch. "May I?" he asked, clutching the soft cotton now bunched up at her hips.

 

"Yes, please." Umi answered, unbuttoning the top of her nightgown before he helped it off of her.

 

She blushed and sat back on her heels for a moment. Clef leaned forward to cup her cheek, rubbing soft circles with his thumb. He kissed her, softly, lovingly. Her breath caught in her throat. The kiss she returned was far less gentle. It was rough and wanting, and she tugged him toward her in such a rush the two of them nearly fell over onto the bed. They broke apart laughing. 

 

Skin was explored with lips and mouths nearly as much as with curious hands. Umi found herself panting on the pillows as Clef tongue circled the sensitive peak of her left breast, while his thumb teased the right. She clung to his hair, pulling perhaps harder than she meant when he replaced his tongue with teeth, letting out a soft moan of his own against her skin. She clutched tighter as his kisses moved farther down her middle, tongue flicking her navel playfully before his fingers curled over the waistband of her underwear. 

 

He looked up at her face then. A request.  

 

Umi nodded.

 

He tugged off that last damp bit of clothing and dropped it off the bed. His fingers trailing back up her thighs, teasing, kneading. He continued his furious campaign of kisses until she was arching off the bed and gasping his name as she shuddered beneath him. 

 

Sucking in a breath or two as she returned to the here and now, Umi sat up with renewed determination and pushed Clef's trousers off his hips. "These need to go."

 

"Yes, Ma'am." He laughed, dropping down beside her on the bed to tug them off the rest of the way. 

 

"Better," Umi whispered, leaning up over him.

 

Clef trembled and let out a soft whimper as she stroked the soft skin of his inner thigh. She grinned wickedly as she dragged a rough, hitched moan from him with another touch, teasing him, stroking him.

 

"Come here." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her down to him, and kissed her. 

 

With another tug, her leg slipped over his and she was straddling his hips as he held her close, hands sliding up her back and back down to her waist as he trailed his lips across her jaw. She shoved him back down into the pillows and began her own offensive, dragging another moan from him with her teeth across his neck. He shifted his hips beneath her, so she reached between them and took hold of him. 

 

Umi wasn't the only one to gasp the power that arced between them during the slow slide in, or the tingling that spread through her body afterwards. It was both everything and nothing she'd imagined. 

 

Clef breathed her name as he rocked his hips up to meet her. Everything was lost in that moment as they began to move together, slowly at first, then faster as the pace became more desperate. He tensed beneath her and she crushed her mouth to his, swallowing his sharp cry as he shattered. His hips bucked up on their own a few more times before melted into the mattress, a boneless heap. 

 

The triumphant grin on Umi's face only lasted a fleeting few seconds as she realised the one flaw in this decision. She sat up straight and swallowed.

 

"Uh, Clef?"

 

"Hmm?" His eye flickered open sleepily. 

 

"So this is probably the wrong time to think of it," she started. Why hadn't she thought about it _before_ they got this far? This sort of thing was all fun and games until someone ended up with a new job description. "But, um…"

 

"It's OK," he breathed, drawing her back down so he could kiss her forehead. "There's a potion that works after."

 

"That's good." She settled against his shoulder for a few moments before pushing herself back up. "In that case, do you want to do it again?"

 

Clef laughed and patted her thigh. "Give me a half hour, and we'll see."

 

°♡°

 

It would be past lunch time by the time they finally emerged from Umi's room, flushed, tired, and more than just a little giddy. Later still before they made it to the hall where their friends were waiting to wish Umi a happy birthday, because Clef made sure they stopped for that potion before either one of them forgot.

 

Umi would meet Fuu's gaze across the room at some point that afternoon, and both of them would blush furiously and go back to talking to their nearest companion.

 

Not until the trip home would anything be said out loud about Umi's private birthday celebration, and any questions would be waved off. It was too new, too personal. Perhaps in a few more months, after they settled into a new weekend routine would Umi be comfortable talking about it.

 

Until then, she'd silently look forward to the nights spent in Cephiro.


End file.
